Newport With Fat Cats

[louhamer]

How does a Newport with fat cats compare with a Casino with upgraded pickups such as Lollars? I would use it for Grant Green style Blues , Jazz & R & B. I played a recent ES330 and for the money was not all that impressed. It had finish bleed on the binding, the tuners suck, and the damn thing wouldn't stay in tune. I have a 2004 Epi Casino Custom Shop with a bigsby that plays great. ( I don't know what the Chinese custom shop really means) I am between putting in a good pair of P90's or buying a newport with a bigsby. Any opinions or suggestions?

[Sugartune]

In short, buy the Newport.

That's all I've got. I'm super happy with mine. Just an amazing guitar all around, despite my personal hangups with Bigsbys. I'm even starting to overcome those.

Upgrade the Casino later and enjoy a Newport now.

[django49]

FWIW.......I owned 3 original Gibson ES-330s in the past. Never really bonded with any of them and they were flipped. Newports are keepers.

[gorch]

Newport w/ Phat Cats? Go for it! There's almost no better pairing of guitar and pickup for these type of guitars.

[Michael_B]

I love the Phat Cats on my Newport. It's a unique twist on a typical P90. They deliver very good cleans but also break-up extremely well, giving great punch when I want it (which is most of the time). I've read criticisms about a thinner low-end, and that seems to be true on mine. Right now, I can't imagine parting with my Phat Cat Newport.

[dragan]

seems to be a volume thing for me , a little thin at lower volumes , pretty satisfied with the balance louder

[JohnnyB]

I owned an Artist Stock Epiphone Casino formerly owned by Chris Ballew of Presidents of the United States of America. It's pretty much the same as a 330.

I put in Lindy Fralin dog ear P-90s and thought it was a pretty good guitar. Then I brought a Newport home a few weeks later. For me it was no contest. The Newport sounded more open, more dynamic, and definitely more expressive. It completely changed my disdain for Seymour Duncan to admiration. Sure, their mass-produced PUs are good for the money, but can be bettered by handwounds from RIo Grande, Fralin, and others. But the SD's custom shop pickups (e.g., Phat Cats) are about as good as it gets, period. The Casino went on consignment within a few days of getting the Newport. Keeping the Casino seemed pointless.

I suppose, if you want a midrange-heavy compressed mallet-of-a-guitar, the ES-330/Casino is a good choice, but if you want to explore the entire range of jazz and blues expression, the Newport with Phat Cats delivers, and not by a little.

[dragan]

^^^^ not to mention that the guitar itself is better!

[django49]

Some say that a "real" ES-330 or 335 is unique (better?) because of the plywood. At least, that it would not be the SAME guitar without it. Yeah, MAYBE. I am not convinced. Maybe there is a bit of snob factor, but I LOVE solid wood. While I cannot bring myself to part with my last 335 (best of many I went thru, IMO) I will still pick up one of a couple Hamers (or one other "H" guitar) that covers the same territory better than 9 times outta 10.